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February 15, 2001

By Vasiliy Zaitsev Better get your good movie viewing in as soon as possible, comrades. With the jackbooted Dubya and Ashcroft junta well on its way to forming...well, let's just say fascist regimes have never been known for their stellar films. Unless, of course, there's a creative backlash to the strangulation-esque censorship attempts that are sure to follow this presidency...

By Vasiliy Zaitsev

Better get your good movie viewing in as soon as possible, comrades. With the jackbooted Dubya and Ashcroft junta well on its way to forming...well, let's just say fascist regimes have never been known for their stellar films. Unless, of course, there's a creative backlash to the strangulation-esque censorship attempts that are sure to follow this presidency.

Here's this month's video recommendation - China Moon (R). And, for you broke SEMO students whose poverty I can emphasize with, this one's almost assuredly a 50-cent discount rental.

In the first successful Hitchcock-ian script I've seen since, well, Hitchcock, Kyle (Ed Harris) is a police detective who falls for the cunning Rachel (Madeleine Stowe), a woman struggling under an abusive marriage.

But Madeleine is not just going to take the abuse any longer. She's going to abuse back, baby, plus some.

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And the extramarital love that Ed is reaping suddenly has a price tag when Madeleine's husband turns up dead, and Ed is expected to assist with the disposal of the evidence - and then is assigned to investigate hubby's disappearance.

To make it all zestier, Ed's partner, Dickey (the heroin-chic Benicio del Toro), chooses this investigation to stop being a police slacker and to start taking his job seriously.

For the continued levels of believable conflict alone, never mind the adequate acting, director John Bailey should have been highly lauded for this effort. To my knowledge, he hasn't gotten so much as a murmur - all the more reason for you to see this complex movie.

About the author:

Vasiliy Zaitsev loves your momma.

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